Ruth Turnbull of TheWinePlace.es recently completely the gruelling Rottnest Challenge Swim. A fine achievement, congratulations Ruth. Here is her story:
Swimming 19.7 km for Breast Cancer and MS http://www.mycause.com.au/page/65336
Taking myself to the limit is something I now know more about. Last month I swam the 19.7 kilometres to Rottnest Island from Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Australia. The Rottnest Channel Swim (http://rottnestchannelswim.com.au) has been an annual event for over 20 years and to date only around 2000 people who have completed a solo journey – it was a challenge like no other for me.
When the day of the swim came, I felt ready. The conditions were perfect, an easterly wind blowing and very little swell. The water was beautiful, crystal clear with full visibility to the bottom of the ocean floor. Thankfully no sharks came swimming past! From six kilometres into the swim, I felt cold and didn’t properly warm up until I was on the island in the shower. So I had to try and ignore the cold, keep on swimming, drink more tea at my rest stops every twenty minutes and not think about hyperthermia.
Completing the race 7 hours 50 minutes, I felt relieved to have finished and not be pulled from the water with hyperthermia like two other swimmers had been. I also felt proud. Although I came 233rd out of 244 swimmers, I was very pleased with my result. Swimming all that way was the hardest thing I have ever done yet it was not impossible. Under 8 hours for someone who hadn’t swum in her childhood, teenage years or adult hood showed me that really anything is possible. I truly believe in the slogan by Adidas (http://www.adidas.es/) “ Impossible is Nothing.”
Now that the swim is behind me, I am enjoying attending regular tastings, reading and learning ever more about wine to share with you the members of TheWinePlace.es.
Ruth
